MAERSK Line, the world's biggest container carrier, has extended its weekly Asia-Port Said shuttle AE5 beyond Port Said to Turkey and has added a call in Guangzhou's Nansha terminal.
Calls at Izmir and Istanbul in Turkey are now added as a new spoke from Maersk's hub at Port Said, said American Shipper. The AE5 now has a rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen-Yantian, Gaungzhou-Nansha, Tanjung Pelepas, Jeddah, Port Said, Izmir, Istanbul, Port Said, Xiamen and back to Ningbo.
Maersk subsidiary Safmarine and CMA CGM take slots on the loop and the number of ships deployed on the service has been increased from six to eight, averaging 5,580 TEU and the round voyage time has increased from 42 days to 56 days.
The AE5 gives Maersk a new direct call at Izmir from Asia, while it already calls at Istanbul on its AE3 loop from Asia, operated jointly with CMA CGM.